The Round Earth’s Imagined Corners
Supplementary Notes for Teachers by Val Sawyer, Ken Watson & Toni Reiseger
Lame’a A Abbas Amara was born in the 1930s in Amara, Iraq and lived there until she
finished school. She graduated from Teachers’ Training College in Baghdad in 1950. She
writes classical and modern poetry and lives in California and London.
∼ Image: What is this poem about?
∼ To whom does the “Image” belong?
Sai’id Aql. (1912- ) Born in Zahla in Lebanon, this nationalist poet is often called the first
symbolist Arab poet. In fact he is more of a romantic though emphasising joy in his verse.
His work, first as a romanticist and then as symbolist, greatly influenced the new generation
of poets. You, a Yacht and to Sail is a very sensual poem.
∼ In each stanza the refrain is repeated yet changed. Explain how this refrain works.
Hassan Fath Al-bab. Born in Egypt in the 1920s, he began his career in the police force,
worked his way through university to obtain a PhD in law. He now teaches in Algeria and has
published seven volumes of social realist poetry.
∼ This poem is called Homework but what else is it really about?
Shaqi Baghdadi (1928 -) Born in Banyas on the Syrian coast. He graduated in Arabic studies
from Damascus University and has since taught Arabic literature in Syrian secondary
schools. Since the 1950s he has contributed to many Arab periodicals, writing poetry, short
stories, literary articles. He has published 4 anthologies of poetry and 2 of short stories. He
was one of the founders of the Syrian Writers Association in the 1950s, supporting
progressive literary objectives in modern Syria. He is active in radical politics and an
outspoken defender of freedom.
∼ In Friendship the poet talks of love and friendship, how accurate is this poet’s
description of love?
Hamri Bahri (1947 -) Born in Algiers. Taught Arabic at high schools then moved into literary
journalism. On editorial boards of literary journals ‘Al-Ru'ya’ and ‘Amal’ and board of
Algerian Writers Union. Poems from his 2 volumes have been translated into French and
Russian. He is a modernist.
∼ In The Butterfly, “Life passes like a horse racing through a thread of smoke”. Pick out
some other similes and metaphors and explain them. Does this help you to understand
this poem?
Bei Dao (1949- ) Bei Dao was born in Beijing. He was one of the Red Guards, but later
became active in the campaign for democracy in China. He has been living in enforced exile
since 1989.
Declaration: Yu Luoke was a young writer accused of violating socialist policy when he
argued that social class is not necessarily inherited. He was executed in 1970 about six years
before the end of the Cultural Revolution.
∼ Make a careful comparison of the choice of words in the two versions of Declaration.
Which poem do you consider to be the stronger version?
∼ Connotation: Choose particular lines for comparison and discussion. eg "will" and
“testament" in 1.2; "to my mother" and "for my mother" in 1.3.
∼ Cloze : Cloze words from McDougall version before presenting it to students. Compare
their predictions with the actual McDougall version and then with the Fang Dai version.
Language: Study change of tense, especially in last lines. Discuss how tense can affect
meaning.
∼ Carry out background research into the Red Guards and the Cultural Revolution.
∼ Requiem : On June 4th, 1989, Chinese troops fired on students demonstrating for
democratic reforms in Tiananmen Square, Beijing.
In what sense was "the end of hatred...hatred"?
A Picture: Tiantian, the nickname given to the poet's daughter, is written with two
characters which look like a pair of windows. The same character also forms a part of the
character for the word 'picture'.
∼ The Bell : The three-mile storm: the students' parades along Peking's main street,
Changan Avenue. This, like Declaration, was written in the aftermath of the Tiananmen
Square massacre.
Look closely at the structure of The Bell - for example, how do the stanza lengths affect
your understanding of the poem and the poem's meaning?
∼ Gains: Discuss the title. How does it relate to the poem itself? Who gains or loses in each
stanza? What is the “gain”?
∼ Landscape over Zero: How would you describe the tone of this poem?
∼ If you had to select one only of the poems of Bei Dao included in Imagined Corners for
another multicultural anthology, which would you choose? Why?
Desh Balasubramaniam was born in war-torn Sri Lanka. At the age of thirteen, his family
fled to New Zealand on humanitarian asylum. After much travelling and soul- searching,
Balasubramaniam settled in Melbourne where he is the founding director of Ondru which
was set up to help broaden minds and deepen understanding about people who are forced
to flee their homes. Its mission is to evoke, challenge and inspire positive social change
through honest expressions of arts and literature. Not only do they want to celebrate the
cultural diversity of Melbourne and wider Australia, but also to raise awareness about their
journey, their struggle, their survival, and their achievements. The poetry of
Balasubramaniam similarly evokes dislocation and not fitting in. He is tormented by
“vultures” and blue-eyed blondes for barely speaking their language and for being an
immigrant.
∼ Why does the poet call his poem The Zoo when it is really about the experiences of a
migrant child?
∼ In My Country, My Lover which country is the poet talking about? How do you know?
∼ Is Smoke of Zebu about progress or regress?
Sujata Bhatt, Indian (1956– ) Born in Ahmedabad, Sujata Bhatt emigrated to the United
States in her teens and now lives in Germany. A recipient of the Commonwealth Poetry
Prize, she has published three volumes of verse, which have now been collected into one
volume, ‘Point No Point’ (Carcanet, 1997).
The Langur Coloured Night: Langur: a large, long-tailed monkey, is sacred in India.
∼ What Happened to the Elephant: Shiva: also known as The Destroyer, one of the three
main Hindu gods, the others being Brahma and Vishnu. Ganesh: elephant-headed god
who dispenses wisdom. Ganesh is the son of Shiva and his wife Parvati, and acts as
guardian at the gate of his mother's house. According to the story, one day Parvati went
to have her bath and told Ganesh to guard the door. He did this, even against his father,
who became so angry that he decapitated Ganesh. Parvati was so upset that in order to
pacify her Shiva replaced the head with the first he came across, which happened to be
the head of an elephant.
∼ Discuss the personification of the moon - what does it contribute to the poem? What
does the poem say about humans and animals and the way we react to the natural
world?
Midiebrity: The title means womanhood, having the characteristics of a woman.
∼ Oranges and Lemons: Anne Frank's House in Amsterdam is now a museum. Her diary
kept during the years of the German Occupation is on display there.
∼ Wine from Bordeaux: Vierzehn Mark: 14 marks. On April 26th, 1986, an atomic power
station at Chernobyl in the Ukraine experienced a massive meltdown which devastated
the neighbouring region and sent clouds of radioactive dust across Europe, as far away
as western France and even Wales. Vineyards in France and pastures in Wales were
affected.
∼ Orpheus Confesses to Eurydice: Orpheus was the son of the Muse of Poetry, Calliope.
The god Apollo (in some versions the true father of Orpheus) presented him with a lyre
and the Muses taught him to play it. Whenever he played and sang, all creation would
listen entranced. As Shakespeare wrote: Orpheus with his lute made trees
And the mountain tops that freeze
Bow themselves when he did sing.
(King Henry VIII, III.i.3)
When his wife Eurydice was bitten by a snake and died, Orpheus descended into the
Underworld and by the power of his music persuaded Hades to let him take Eurydice back
to earth. Hades imposed one condition: Orpheus must not look back at his wife until they
were both on the surface of the earth. As he emerged into the sunlight, Orpheus glanced
over his shoulder, and Eurydice was drawn back into the Underworld. Later, Orpheus was
torn limb from limb by infuriated women in Thrace. They threw his head, which was still
singing, into a river, whence it was borne into the Aegean Sea and eventually washed up on
the island of Lesbos. (See also poems in this collection by Ivan Lalic.)
∼ The Stare / What Happened to the Elephant: Is What Happened to the Elephant simply
about the 'nosy imagination' of the child?
∼ What do students think the poet's attitude to animals is?
∼ These two poems could lead to a discussion of moral / ethical questions such as using
animals for experimentation and transplants and also animals in conservation parks and
zoos.
∼ The Stare could lead to a discussion of language and its functions and how we take it for
granted. Teachers could discuss different communication systems eg. Auslan.
The One Who Goes Away deals with a tension experienced by many who leave their
homeland and settle in another country, or simply leave home.
∼ What conflicting emotions are expressed here?
∼ What is your final judgement of the poem?
Kim Cheng Boey. (1963 - ) Born in Singapore, Kim Cheng Boey is one of Singapore’s post1965 English language poets. After living in Murnau and Iowa, he moved to Australia with
his wife, where he completed his PhD at Macquarie University. His poetry is lyrical exploring
thematic images of homeland, identity, nostalgia, and exile. Plum Blossom or Quong Tart at
the QVB is a poem about lost personal history, about losing the words and names.
∼ What can his daughter recover? What does she finally learn?
Nina Cassian. Romanian . (1924 - ) A noted composer of chamber and symphonic music as
well as of poetry, Nina Cassian has had to struggle throughout most of her creative life
against political repression. When her early poems were condemned by the Stalinists
(Romania was under Russian domination) , for a while she concentrated on music; musical
notes, she said, could not be found in the dictionary and therefore she could not be accused
of making political references in her music. (Such a defence did not, however, save Russian
composers like Prokofiev from condemnation by Stalin.) After the death of Stalin there was
a thaw and she published poetry again, but later censorship returned under the dictatorship
of Ceausescu. In such an atmosphere, Nina Cassian's published verse concentrated on
personal themes – love, death, loss, suffering - but she did circulate among her friends some
satirical verses about the regime. When she was visiting New York in 1985, one of those
friends was arrested, and copies of the verses were discovered at his house. The friend was
tortured and finally killed; Cassian's house was ransacked and her books were banned. Thus
she was forced into exile until Ceausescu fell from power. Many of the poems in her recent
collections were written in English.
Evolution: memento mori – reminder of death; polenta: a thick porridge made from maize.
Ballad of the Jack of Diamonds: Donatella: 1386-1466, Italian sculptor, one of the leading
figures of the Renaissance in Italy.
∼ In Ars Poetica — A Polemic, Nina Cassian describes her writing in these terms: “I am
subjective, intimate, private, particular, confessional.” On the basis of the poems
included here, do you agree?
∼ Snowbound: Use this poem as a basis for discussion on being different. Look at how
society treats those who are different. Has there been progress? Discuss the metaphor
in line 9 - how effective is it? Why is this poem called Snowbound?
Caroline Caddy (1944 - ) Caroline Caddy was born in Perth in 1944. Her mother was
Australian and her father American, and she spent part of her childhood in the United States
and in Japan. She has a longstanding interest in Asian culture, and has travelled widely in
China. In 1992, she travelled to Antarctica, later publishing a collection of poems,
‘Antarctica’ (1996). Caddy’s poetry is informed by her travels and personal experiences, and
by the landscapes of Western Australia.
∼ Persimmon: How does Caddy use her experience of eating a persimmon to describe her
experiences of being in China?
∼ What is being described in the poem Elephant Beach?
Charles Causley. English (1917– 2003). Apart from six years in the navy during the Second
World War, Charles Causley has lived all his life in Cornwall. His first book of poems was
published in 1951, and since then his output has been prolific. He is also one of Britain's
most popular poets. The simplicity of Causley's language should not mislead the reader into
thinking that his poems lack profundity of thought and feeling. Much of his poetry has been
written in the ballad form; like W H Auden before him, he has celebrated "the ancient
virtues of this particular kind of writing", which, he claims, keeps the writer from moralising
while “allowing the incidents of his story to speak for themselves; and as we listen, we
remain watchful for all kinds of ironic understatements.”
Lord Sycamore: Pusser – Charles Causley has provided the following note for Imagined
Corners: “Pusser derives from 'purser' (purser = paymaster). 100% naval (slang). It's
lower deck slang, once spoken, never forgotten! The poor bloke in the poem is about to
be hanged.”
Ballad of the Bread Man: Gabriel – an archangel who in the Bible is God's messenger to
Mary, telling her that she will bear the baby Jesus.
The Question: A hauntingly enigmatic poem, almost a succession of riddles. The poem has
some of the same elliptical qualities as the folk carol from the 15th century, which seems to
combine elements of the legend of the Holy Grail and the Eucharist:
Over yonder's a park, which is newly begun:
All bells in Paradise I heard them a ring,
Which is silver on the outside and gold within: And I love sweet Jesus above all thing.
And in that park there stands a hall:
Which is covered all over with purple and pall:
And in that hall there stands a bed:
Which is hung all round with silk curtains so red:
And in that bed there lies a knight:
Whose wounds they do bleed by day and by night:
At that bedside there be a stone: Which our blest Virgin Mary knelt upon:
At that bed's foot there grows a thorn:
Which was never so blossomed since Christ was born:
∼ Charles Causley has said: "A poem must not be so explicit that there's no reason for the
reader's imagination and sensibility to get working." Do you agree? What do you make
of his poem The Question! ?
∼ In the introduction to his section of Imagined Corners, Charles Causley is quoted as
implying that his ballads have "all kinds of ironic understatements". Can you detect any
of these? If so, comment on their effectiveness.
Mahmud Darwish (1942 - 2008) Born in al-Barwa, a village east of Acre; lived in Haifa where
he edited a bi-weekly newspaper and wrote poems against Zionist rule. He has suffered
imprisonment and house arrest. In 1969 he won the Lotus Prize, receiving it from Indira
Ghandi during the 1970 Afro-Asian Writers Conference in New Delhi. Lived in Beirut from
1971 to 1982 and then Paris where he edited the literary journal al-Karmal. A very well
known poet, he published many volumes of poetry and was awarded the Lenin Prize in
1983.
∼ Defiance: According to this poem, what is poetry and how effective is it?
Jack Davis (1917 – 2000) Jack Davis was a notable Australian 20th Century playwright and
poet, as well as an Indigenous rights campaigner. After his father was killed in an accident
when Davis was just out of primary school, he left school and became an itinerant labourer,
windmill man, horse breaker, boundary rider, drover and stockman. At 14, outraged and
indignant at the treatment of Aboriginal people by white landowners, Davis began to write
poetry as a means of expression. A humanitarian, Davis will always be remembered for his
writing about Aboriginal history and culture and for his relentless fight for justice for his
people. He gained national and international recognition for his work and made an
enormous contribution in helping to bridge the gap between cultures and communities.
Davis was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1976, and a Member
of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1985.
∼ Who do you think is holding Davis’s hand in Let Go?
∼ List the numerous ways and places where Aborigines were maltreated in the poem,
Aboriginal Australia? What is the “real Australian story”?
Margaret Diesendorf (1912–1993) Born in Vienna, Austria, Diesendorf migrated to Australia
in 1939. She brought to insular Australia her experiences of Europe, memories of music, art
and gaiety, tempered by loss, deprivation and courage. In the poem Light, for instance, she
touches on the love of her dying husband, her childhood poverty and the death of her baby
brother, transforming each image with the radiance of light into something beautiful. A
number of her poems are direct responses to art works, both European and Australian.
∼ In the poem, Light, what does light stand for?
∼ “…the cat-pleasure of stretchpaw laziness…”, when reading Mood, what mood are you
put in?
∼ What is Retrospection about? Why is it obviously written in Australia?
Carol Ann Duffy. Scottish (1955 – ) . Carol Ann Duffy was born in Glasgow, but has lived
most of her life in England. Regarded by many as the outstanding poet of her generation in
the United Kingdom, she has won many awards, including the Dylan Thomas Award and the
Somerset Maugham Award. Her topics range from the personal to the social and political;
she has a particular skill in the dramatic monologue, as is shown here in What Price? and
Head of English. In 2009 she was appointed British Poet Laureate.
∼ What Price? : This poem appears to have been triggered by the so-called Hitler Diaries,
which turned out to be a forgery.
∼ Like several of the other poets in the collection, Carol Ann Duffy has experimented with
the dramatic monologue. Which of her dramatic monologues do you find the most
effective?
∼ "All childhood is an emigration" (Originally). Explore this idea with reference to the
poem.
∼ Never Go Back / Originally
Use these poems as a starter for a piece of writing in which students tell the story of one
of the characters. Originally : Skelf – a splinter.
Compare with Peter Skryznecki' s Migrant Hostel.
Do you think these poems are a good description of /testimony to the migrant's
dilemma? Ask an immigrant to this country to tell you their experiences. Share with the
class.
Odysseus Elytis. Greek (1911-1995) Born in Crete, Elytis was educated in Athens and lived
there for most of his life. In 1940-41 he was an officer in the Greek army resisting the
invading Italians. In the post-war years his fame as a poet spread beyond Greece, and in
1979 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
An excerpt from The Gloria: The Gloria is the third and final part of his long poem, The Axion
Esti, a kind of spiritual autobiography. The first part, The Genesis, deals with the birth and
growth of awareness of the narrator, or, better, the persona adopted by Elytis for this
purpose; the second part, The Passion, deals with the persona's experiences in the Second
World War and its aftermath; the third part, from which this excerpt is taken, is a long hymn
of praise for the beauties still to be found in the world, despite the evils revealed in the
second part.
Minium: red lead.
Mehemi: a north wind that blows in the eastern Mediterranean during summer.
Myrto: like the name Kyra (below), Myrto is the name of a girl belonging to the poet's
'personal mythology', as he has called it.
Sifnos, Amorgos etc: Aegean islands.
Zeus: the king of the gods in Greek Mythology.
Hera of the tree's ancient trunk: Hera, wife of Zeus, was the goddess of fertility and
vegetation. Kyra-Penelope: Penelope was the wife of Odysseus. During his ten years of
wandering after the Trojan War, she kept suitors at bay by agreeing to choose another
husband once she had finished weaving a shroud. Each night she unravelled what she had
woven by day, and so avoided choosing. For the Greeks she was a symbol of wifely
faithfulness. Kyra-Penelope is a deliberately ambiguous reference to both Odysseus's wife
and any modern peasant woman who bears the same name. Cyricus and Julitta: martyrs of
the Greek Orthodox faith. Hail, Girl Burning... These lines are addressed, according to the
poet, "to the girl-child who will save the world and who personifies the poetic idea".
Serpent's belt of stars: a reference to the constellation known as Serpent. Daedalic: artistic,
skilful.
The Sleep of the Brave: Erebus: In Greek mythology, the son of Chaos and Darkness. Because
he aided the Titans in their battle against the gods, he was cast into the infernal regions,
which henceforth were sometimes known by the name of Erebus.
∼ "Despite his awareness of the failings of humanity and the horrors of the Second World
War, Elytis is essentially optimistic, a poet who celebrates life and the beauties of the
world." On the basis of the poems in Imagined Corners, would you agree?
∼ Compare The Sleep of the Brave with Wilfred Owen's Futility. What attitude do these
poems convey about war?
Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911 – 1984) Pakistan. Faiz, a Communist like Neruda, was born in British
India in 1911, the son of a lawyer. He joined the newly formed Progressive Writers’
Movement in the 1930s, served in the Indian Army during the Second World War, becoming
a Lieutenant Colonel, and after Partition moved to Pakistan, where he became editor of the
Pakistan Times, an English-language daily. He also worked as managing editor of the Urdu
daily Imroz, and was actively involved in organising trade unions. In 1951 Faiz was accused
of plotting a coup with a group of Pakistani army officers. After four years on death row,
international pressure helped his release. In 1962 he was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize by
the Soviet Union. He went into exile in Moscow, London and Beirut, eventually returning to
Pakistan.
Much of his poetry follows the conventions of ghazal, the classical form of traditional Urdu
poetry, which had been influenced by Persian literature. But Faiz’s work revolutionises the
conventions, extending the meanings of many traditional terms. For instance, Faiz often
addresses poems to his "beloved", a central word in the ghazal vocabulary. In his hands, it
refers to both a person and to the people as whole, even to the revolution. He sees the
individual as existing within a wider context: “The self of a human being, despite all its
loves, troubles, joys and pains, is a tiny, limited and humble thing.”
∼ Faiz Ahmed Faiz is seen as one of the great Pakistani poets. His most famous poem,
Don’t Ask Me for That Love Again, illustrates his philosophy that the individual exists
within a wider world. Discuss how the poem starts by describing romantic love but then
it shows such love cannot be sustained in the face of reality. What are the “other
sorrows in this world” and “comforts other than love”?
∼ What does Spring evoke in the poet in It Is Spring Again?
∼ A Prison Evening: how does this evening give hope?
∼ In Wasteland of Solitude, pick a few of Faiz’s metaphors – why are they so evocative?
∼ Speak – why do you think the listener should speak?
U A Fanthorpe. English (1929 – 2009) Ursula Fanthorpe was an English teacher for many
years, but found that the demands of the job gave her little or no time for writing. She
therefore left teaching to take a nine-to-five position as a clerk in a hospital in Bristol. Her
experiences there provided her with the material for several of her poems. Her range is
great: poems dealing with the small tragedies of ordinary life alternate with biting satire and
sparkling wit. A study of U A Fanthorpe's work, ‘Taking Stock’, by Eddie Wainwright
(Peterloo Poets) was published in 1995.
Case History: Allison (head injury): Degas – French Impressionist, famous for his paintings of
the ballet.
Not My Best Side: reproductions of Uccello's 'St George and the Dragon' are easy to obtain.
Two school texts that contain it are: ‘Double Vision’ edited by Michael and Peter Benton
(London: Hodder, 1990) and ‘Postcards from Planet Earth’ edited by Paul Richardson and
Ken Watson (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1990). Incidentally, the poet seems to
have made a mistake when she has the dragon complain that the painter "left off two of my
feet". The dragon in the painting is a “wyvern”, a two-legged, winged dragon with a
serpent's tail.
Sunderland Point and Ribchester: Sunderland, Ribchester and the river Ribble are all in
Lancashire, England. When -chester is found as part of an English place name it means that
the town was once the site of a Roman camp (castra is the Latin for 'camp').
Halley's Comet 1985-86: Harold and his star-crossed Saxons: Halley's Comet is shown on the
Bayeux Tapestry, which records the Norman invasion of England. Giotto: Renaissance artist,
famous among other things for his ability to draw a perfect circle with one sweep of the
band. Kepler: German astronomer (1571-1630) Kepler formulated the laws of planetary
motion.
Nativities: the world cow: In Germanic mythology, the world was a barren icy waste until
the primeval cow Audumla licked a block of salty ice from which the first manlike creature, a
giant called Buri, emerged. Buri's son Bor was the father of Odin, the chief Norse god. HeitsiEibib, a deity of the African Hottentots, was the offspring of a cow. In various mythologies
godlings were suckled by mares and goats, and of course Romulus and Remus, the
legendary founders of Rome, were suckled by a wolf. Blossom of oak...: Blodenwedd, of
Welsh legend, was made of the blossoms of oak, broom and meadowsweet. Through the
paternal skull fully armed: Athena sprang into being fully formed and fully armed when
Hephaistos, the smith on Mount Olympus, split the skull of Zeus with an axe. Hatch from an
egg: The Hindu god Brahma was said to have sprung from a golden egg. Foam-born in
Cyprus, in a shell: the birth of Aphrodite (See the famous painting by Botticelli).
∼ BC:AD: Compare this poem with the usual version of the Christian story. What are the
differences? Compare it also with Charles Causley's Ballad of the Bread Man.
∼ You Will be Hearing From Us Shortly : Discuss why interviews are often structured in this
way. How would students address the interviewer? Why do they think the interviewer
has asked these questions?
∼ Not My Best Side: This poem is ideal for reader's theatre. Students can be divided into
groups and asked to work on each part of the poem. They can discuss the results and the
interpretations that arise from the performances.
Write the horse's point of view and discuss the connection with the poem.
Find a reproduction of Uccello' s painting of St. George and the Dragon. Look at the
painting and discuss how Fanthorpe has interpreted the painting.
∼ Sunderland Point and Ribchester: Why is this a good place to bring the kids?
∼ In an interview with Eddie Wainwright (‘Taking Stock’, Peterloo Poets, 1995), U A
Fanthorpe said: "I try not to appear as a person myself [in my poetry]”. Rather than
developing "a distinctive voice", she says, she is "interested in voices .... and I enjoy
working on voices for people in the Browning way." (The Victorian poet Robert Browning
wrote many dramatic monologues, the most famous of which is My Last Duchess.) Does
the selection of her poems in Imagined Corners support this statement?
Muhammad Hasan Faqi (1912 -) Born in Mecca, studied there and in Jeddah. Became
teacher then newspaper editor. Later serve the government of Saudi Arabia in various
capacities including ambassador to Indonesia. Then he retired to write several volumes of
poetry as well as short stories and books on literary, religious and legal matters.
∼ In West and East, why do you think the dichotomy exists?
Muhammad Al-Fayiz (1938 - ) Born in Kuwait, works in the literary section of Radio and
Television in Ministry of Information. Published first collection of poetry in 1964 and has
since published several other collections, much of it marked by nostalgia for the days before
oil brought wealth.
∼ In Tune 69, why did the sailor have dreams of shores? Why did his question seem to
change her into a singing lute?
Muhammad Al-Fayturi (1930 -) Born and educated in Alexandria, Egypt. His father was
Sudanese, and his mother Egyptian. He moved to Cairo and published several volumes of
poetry, much concerned with the feelings of a black man in a world dominated by whites.
The Moon and the Garden: in Arabic the moon is masculine, the sun feminine.
∼ What is the “deepest sadness”? Why did the moon become a “dead stone”?
Jane Gibian (1972 - ) is a Sydney poet whose first collection, ‘The Body’s Navigation’, was
published in 1998. She was an Asialink Literature Resident in Hanoi, Vietnam in 2002, and
published a chapbook of haiku, ‘long shadows’. Gibian works as a school librarian and ESL
teacher, and studies Vietnamese. Gibian’s Asian influence is obvious by her choice of poetic
structure in Six haiku.
∼ What images are evoked in Six Haiku? Where does summer sequence take place?
∼ In Vietnamese bite what have the rounded and flat surfaces got to do with the leaf?
∼ Why will you “use the four parts of the tongue with equilibrium” in Parts of the tongue?
Khalil Hawi (1919 - 1982) Born in Shuwair, Lebanon; educated at the American University in
Beirut, then at Cambridge, England. Became ' Professor of Arabic Literature at the American
University of Beirut and was highly regarded as a powerful, often symbolist poet.
∼ The Miracle: What are “closed-in faces”? Why do you think “his tears caught fire”? Why
was the “old man paralysed”?
Anita Heiss (1968 - ) Anita Heiss is the author of non-fiction, historical fiction, commercial
women's fiction, poetry, social commentary and travel articles. She is a regular guest at
writers' festivals and travels internationally performing her work and lecturing on
Indigenous literature. She is an Indigenous Literacy Day Ambassador and a proud member of
the Wiradjuri nation of central New South Wales. She is an Adjunct Professor with
Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning, UTS and currently divides her time between
writing, public speaking and as a workshop facilitator.
∼ What is Heiss saying in My Best Friend’s White?
∼ What psyches you in What Psyches you?
∼ In Identity what is the white view versus the black view of identity?
∼ Why does Heiss see herself as a Bicultural Blackfella?
Nazim Hikmet (1902-63, Turkey) was born into an aristocratic family in Salonica. Hikmet
spent much of his adult life in prison or exile for his subversive writings. It was Kemal (later
known as Attaturk, father of the Turks) who told Hikmet to “write poetry with a purpose”. In
all his poems, Hikmet never denies the pain of loss and death. He understands that
“living/is the most real, the most beautiful thing” yet suggests that to live life fully we must
be prepared to die. The act of solidarity is this readiness to die for the cause – it is living with
that vital connection to the fate of others which gives life its meaning. This attitude is seen
in the image of planting an olive tree at the end of one’s life. Though apparently irrational,
such a positive act is an assertion of life against death. It is action, “living”, (not the passive
noun “life”) which is the “most beautiful thing”, because it creates purpose.
∼ What is freedom according to the poem A Sad State of Freedom? Do you agree with
Hikmet’s definition?
∼ After reading Some Advice to Those who will Serve Time in Prison, list the advice and
discuss how helpful the poem might be to a person in prison.
∼
Do you like the love poem I Love You? Write a love poem for yourself which uses this
poem as its model.
∼ In Don Quixote, why does the poet say “but you, the unbeatable knight of our curse”?
∼ What is Hymn to Life about?
∼ Why does Hikmet say “living is no laughing matter” in On Living?
Miroslav Holub Czech (1925 –1998). Miroslav Holub has been described by Ted Hughes as
one of the half dozen most interesting poets writing anywhere. In his introduction to
Holub's ‘On the Contrary’ (1977), the English critic A Alvarez wrote:
As a scientist, he has a solid international reputation; as a poet, his intelligence, wit and
vulnerability, his clarity and unflagging distaste for whatever is pretentious or second-hand
have made him one of the most original and certainly one of the sanest voices of our time.
Holub's education was solidly classical, and Homer and Virgil the first poets he studied.
When he finished school in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, he was put to work as a labourer
on the railways; after the War he studied science and medicine at Charles University in
Prague, eventually becoming a noted immunologist. In the political repression that followed
the 'Prague Spring' of 1969 he became a 'non-person', and his work was suppressed in his
home country; he himself, however, had managed to leave Czechoslovakia and find work
first in the USA and then in Germany. Reviewing Holub's Notes of a Clay Pigeon , Douglas
Sealy wrote:
Holub views the world as a hitherto unexplored country; everything is strange and nothing
can be taken for granted...
Four of the six poems chosen here have been translated by different hands. Hence it has
been possible to set two different versions side by side for comparison and analysis.
The Minotaur's thoughts on poetry : the Minotaur, a monster with a bull's head and a man's
body, dwelt in the Labyrinth in the palace of King Minos of Crete. He was slain by the
Athenian hero Theseus. A severed head/may sing: yet another reference to the story of
Orpheus (see note on Sujata Bhatt).
∼ Most critics of Holub note a certain surreal quality in his poetry. They also remark upon
his wit. Would you agree that these are his outstanding qualities, or are there others you
would highlight?
Terry Jaensch (1970 - ) Terry Jaensch is a poet/monologist/actor based in Melbourne. His
first book of poetry ‘Buoy’ (2001) was highly commended in the Anne Elder Award by the
Fellowship of Australian Writers. In 2004/05 he was the recipient of an Asialink residency in
Singapore, which allowed collaboration with Singaporean poet Cyril Wong. The resulting
work ‘Excess Baggage & Claim’ (2007) was launched in Australia and in Singapore as a part
of the Australia Festival.
∼ Should the shark be killed – this is the question Jaensch asks in Shark but what is his
answer?
∼ Why is Air called air?
Yusuf Al-Khal (1917 - 1987) Born in Tripoli, Lebanon, he graduated at the American
University of Beirut where he then taught for several years. In 1947 became editor of ‘Sawt
al-Mar'ah’ journal. From 1948 to 1955 he worked as a journalist at UN in New York.
Returned to teach at American University of Beirut and in 1957 founded ‘Majallat Shi'r’
(Poetry Review): a leading forum for free verse poetry. He became an editor with Dar alNahar publishing house in Beirut. He translated Eliot, Pound, Frost and others and
published several volumes of poetry.
∼ After reading Death discuss how the poet uses metaphor to describe his friend’s death.
Explain these metaphors.
Salah Labaki (1906 - 1955) Born in Brazil but brought as a baby to Lebanon where he
studied at Hikmah College in Beirut and at Aynturah. Founded the Lebanese literary society
Ahl al-Qalam and became a leading symbolist poet. Published 5 volumes of verse.
∼ The Storm is fairly literal description of a storm. What does the sky do?
Ivan Lalic, Serbo Croat (1931–1996). The leading poet of what was once Yugoslavia, Ivan
Lalic was a Serb married to a Croat. Born in Belgrade in 1931, he published fourteen
collections of poetry; a selection of his verse, translated by Francis Jones, was published in
1996 under the title’ A Rusty Needle’ (Anvil Press Poetry) .
How Orpheus Sang: see note on Sujata Bhatt' s Orpheus Confesses to Eurydice.
Requiem for a Mother: The Holderlin epigraph translates: Light of lone! shine also on the
dead, you golden one!
Of Eurydice: see note on Sujata Bhatt's Orpheus Confesses to Eurydice.
Letter from the Knight Sinadin: When the Mongols swept into Asia Minor in 1402, the Turks
and troops from the Balkans fought side by side against the invaders. They were, however,
defeated in the Battle of Angora (present-day Ankara).
Princip on the Battlefield: On June 28th, 1914, Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Austrian
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, thus providing the trigger for the First World War.
The event occurred on the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, in which the Serbs
were defeated by the Turks, thus causing much of the Balkans to fall under Turkish
domination. Francis R Jones, in his notes on the poems in ‘A Rusty Needle’, tells us that on
one of a cycle of poems on Kosovo Lalic tells of a girl who has been given three items by
three brothers, one of whom she is to wed: a wedding ring, a coat of many colours, and a
golden shawl. Searching the battlefield after the slaughter, she discovers that all three
brothers have died.
The Argonauts: In Greek mythology, a band of heroes chosen by Jason to sail in quest of the
Golden Fleece. Their ship was the Argo.
Young Woman from Pompeii.: on 24 August, 79 AD, Pompeii, a city southeast of Naples, was
engulfed by lava when Mount Vesuvius erupted. When excavations were begun in the 18th
century, the bodies of many of the dead were found almost perfectly preserved by ash and
mud. Research Pompeii and find pictures of this young woman (and others like her).
∼ Do you think the poet captures the thought of this young woman in a convincing way?
∼ In the dramatic monologue Of Eurydice, in what way do you think the speaker finds
himself "hideously enriched"?
∼ The Spaces of Hope Lalic's poem is quite visual in its use of imagery. Divide the class into
groups and get each group to present a collage of their vision of hope.
∼ Ophelia. Use Hamlet (or the Lamb or Garfield story versions) to give the background to
this poem. Find a reproduction of Sir John Millais's painting of Ophelia. What similarities
do you find between the painting and the poem? What differences? (Sir John Millais was
one of the leaders of the Pre-Raphaelite School of British painting, and his Ophelia is
reproduced in most books on the group (e.g. Christopher Wood, ‘The Pre-Raphaelites’,
London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1981,1994) What does the image of “lying entwined
with death” suggest?
∼ Letter from the Knight Sinadin: Compare this poem with Wilfred Owen's Spring
Offensive. Discuss how the nature of war is presented. Students to imagine they are
filming this poem. Storyboard six frames of such a film and include information on shot
composition and why they chose to compose each shot in that particular way.
Gwyneth Lewis Welsh (1959 – ). Gwyneth Lewis writes both in Welsh, her first language,
and in English. She has published two volumes of verse in English,’ Parables and Faxes’
(Bloodaxe, 1995) and Zero Gravity (Bloodaxe, 1998).
Flyover Elegies: The circles / of Dante's hell: In the first part Dante's Divine Comedy,
'Inferno', the poet dreams that he is led by Virgil into Hell, which is conceived as a conical
funnel, to successive circles of which the various categories of sinners are confined. Over the
entrance to Hell are inscribed the words: Abandon hope all ye who enter here. At the lowest
circle are to be found the worst criminals of history. The Divine Comedy was written at the
beginning of the fourteenth century.
The Reference Library: whin – whinstone - dark-coloured rocks such as dolerite or basalt.
Feverfew – a perennial plant of the chrysanthemum family, sometimes used as a herbal
medicine. logorrhea – a mental disorder characterised by excessive talking.
Pentecost: Pentecost: Jewish harvest festival and a Christian festival celebrating the descent
of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles at the time of the Jewish Pentecost. Glossolalia: either
'meaningless babble' or 'the gift of tongues'. Torch – the teachings of the early Jewish
priests; the Pentateuch: the five books of Jewish law.
Good Dog! : Om – a mantric syllable indicating the supreme principle, often chanted in
order to produce a trancelike state. Something there is about a dog/drauis conversation
from frosty men: possibly a jokey reference to Robert Frost and his poem Mending Watt,
which begins: Something there is that doesn't love a wall…
∼ What do you make of Pentecost? How would you describe its tone?
∼ What do you take to be the theme of The Reference Library? Do you agree with Gwyneth
Lewis's argument?
∼ Which example of protest poetry do you find more effective, The Ultimate
Demonstration or A Righteous Day? Why?
∼ Peripheral Vision / Good Dog! Discuss anthropomorphism and our relationship to our
pets and other animals. Students should try their hand at writing the dog's view of
humans.
∼ Flyover Elegies Students can use this poem in a discussion of environmental issues,
especially in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne with the extension of freeways etc instead
of improved public transport. Compare the poem with John Foulcher's poem Summer
Rain.
∼ Fax X: Examine the extended metaphor and the use of similes in this poem. Individually,
what does each suggest (ie "Why THAT particular metaphor?")?
∼ The Reference Library: Students can compose a series of questions they would need to
answer in order to understand this poem. In pairs, they then try to answer one another's
questions. Unanswered questions can be used for whole class discussion.
Mudrooroo. Australian Aboriginal (1938 - ) Born in Western Australia in as Colin Thomas
Johnson, Mudrooroo Nyoongah is best known as a novelist. He won fame with his first
novel, ‘Wildcat Falling’, published under his European name, Colin Johnson; his best novel is
undoubtedly ‘Doctor Wooredy's Prescription for Enduring the Ending of the World.’ He has
published several volumes of verse, including ‘The Garden of Gethsemane ‘(Hyland House,
1991) and ‘Pacific Highway Boo-Blooz’ (University of Queensland Press, 1996).
A Righteous Day and The Ultimate Demonstration: two poems written on the occasion of
the Australian Bicentennial in 1988.
∼ The Ultimate Demonstration: Re-work as a newspaper article reporting on a
demonstration for reconciliation.
∼ Tracks: What is the effect of the tense in this poem? Why the change in the last five
lines? What effect does it have on the reader's understanding of the poem?
∼ City Suburban Lines: Discuss the connotations of “straight”. What does the poem suggest
about the way we live our lives? Through either research or a visiting speaker, contrast a
traditional Aboriginal lifestyle with that of a white suburban dweller.
Ahmad Al-Safi Al-Najafi (1894 -?) Born in Najaf, he spent several years as a young man in
Iran where he studied Persian and translated Omar Khayyam into Arabic. Left Iraq for
Lebanon and published several volumes of neo-classicist poetry.
∼ Garments of the Soul – what are they?
Nguyen Duc Mau. (1948 - ) He is the author of novels, short stories and film scripts as well
as poems. During the Vietnam War he fought on the side of North Vietnam.
∼ In A Retired General how much love can make amends?
Nguyen My. (1935 - 1991) He joined the army at the age of sixteen, and later became a
reporter for the newspaper Liberation Flag. The Red Farewell is one of the best-known
poems of the war.
∼ Why is the farewell “red” in The Red Farewell?
Dennis O’Driscoll. Irish (1954 - ). Born in County Tipperary, Dennis O'Driscoll is considered
one of the most outstanding of the younger generation of Irish poets. He has published four
volumes of verse: ‘Kist’ (Dolmen Press, 1982), ‘Hidden Extras’ (Anvil, 1987), ‘Long Story
Short’ (Anvil, 1993), ‘QualityTime’ (Anvil, 1997).
Fruit Salad: “cordate” – heart shaped.
∼ "The richness of O'Driscoll's imagery contrasts starkly with the bleakness of his vision."
Do you find O'Driscoll's imagery rich, his vision bleak?
∼ In Office: This poem is about the tedium of work in an office. Write a reply from an
unemployed person's perspective. Annotate as a reading script.
∼ Fruit Salad: Divide into groups. If possible have in class the fruits in question. Closely
examine the fruit (touch, smell and taste). How well has the poet captured the feel of
each? Try writing a similar verse for the pineapple.
Janos Pilinszky, Hungarian (1921-1981). Janos Pilinszky and Sandor Weores are generally
considered the greatest poetic talents to emerge in post-World War II Hungary. The choice
of Pilinszky over Weores is a personal one, and may perhaps arise from the fact that
Pilinszky has been lucky enough to be translated by Ted Hughes (with the help of Janos
Csokits). Ted Hughes has written:
The quality of [Pilinszky's] actual style is an essence, from the heart of his vision. It is
direct, simple, even 'impoverished', but all Hungarians agree that it is a marvel of
luminosity, unerring balance, sinuous music and intensity - a metal resembling nothing
else. Through translation we can only try to imagine that...
Like several other poets in this collection, Pilinszky's vision was forever altered by his
experiences during the Second World War. Conscripted into the army (Hungary had been
absorbed into the empire of the Third Reich) he was eventually taken prisoner and spent the
last year of the war in prison camps in Austria and Germany.
After this experience there emerges, at the heart of his poems, a strange creature, 'a
gasping, limbless trunk', savaged by primal hungers, among the odds and ends of a
destroyed culture, waiting to be shot, or beaten to death, or just thrown on a refuse heap…
(Ted Hughes)
Another important influence was religion: like most Hungarians, Pilinszky was brought up a
Catholic.
Passion of Ravensbruck: Ravensbruck was a concentration camp in Germany during the
Second World War. About 50,000 women, many of whom were used in medical
experiments, died there.
Revelations VIII 7: the first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with
blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all
green grass was burnt up. (‘Bible’, King James Version (New Testament))
∼ The French Prisoner: Compare this poem with Wilfred Owen's Strange Meeting, about
which Owen said he was expressing' the pity of war'.
∼ Fish in the Net: The net is a metaphor for war catching us all in its path. Discuss the
religious allusion to the "mighty fisherman". Contrast the first line and the last four lines
"a net of stars" sounds beautiful while the rest of the poem speaks of suffering. How
effective is this language in portraying the suffering of war?
∼ Passion of Ravensbruck / The Desert of Love Find photos of World War II, especially postwar Europe and the death camps. How effectively does Pilinszky translate these horrific
images into words?
∼ While Pilinszky's poetry has been greatly admired — some say that he is the greatest
Hungarian poet of the post-World War II period — critics have found it difficult to
explain where his greatness lies. If you like his work, try to pin down his special qualities.
Tadeusz Różewicz Polish (1921- ). Poland's losses in the Second World War were greater
even than Russia's,' with almost 25% of the population dying. Hence any poet coming to
maturity in those terrible years would be indelibly marked by the experience and much of
Rozewicz's poetry is, in his words, "poetry for the horror-stricken. For those abandoned to
butchery. For survivors." Like the Hungarian poet Pilinszky, born in the same year, Rozewicz
has forged a poetic diction that is simple and direct, but also charged with ambiguity. His
poetry has been translated into English by Adam Czerniawski.
Mars: Mars was the Roman god of war.
∼ Mars: This poem is ideal for readers' theatre. Students should try to catch the
atmosphere of how everyday events can be overtaken by war. Make an anti-war poster
of this poem using images in a collage.
∼ The Survivor: Try to have students interview, or listen to the story of, a 'survivor'. What is
it they find so difficult about their experience? Discuss how the media often intrudes on
the suffering of survivors with inane questions. Discuss, on the other hand, how
survivors may become media celebrities. Arrange a visit to the Jewish Museum or view
the video Schindler's List, Sophie's Choice or Life is Beautiful. Use these as a basis for
discussion on "Survival".
∼ Massacre of the Boys / Pigtail Completion: Discuss these poems in the light of students'
viewing of the videos named above.
∼ Although many of his poems arise from his experiences during the Second World War,
Rozewicz has been described as "a permanently contemporary poet". To many readers
his poems have such contemporary relevance that they seem to have been written just
yesterday. Do you have this reaction? If so, try to explain it.
Adib Sa'b (1945 -) Born in Beirut, his father published for over 40 years a review for
colloquial Lebanese poetry and folklore and is regarded as Lebanon's poet laureate in
colloquial verse. Adib Sa'b graduated from American University of Beirut and from London
University. Became lecturer in philosophy at American University of Beirut and professor of
philosophy at St John of Damascus School of Theology in Balaman University (North
Lebanon). Lived in London and Paris, consultant for UN organisations, and editor-in-chief of
"Al-Azmina", cultural pan-Arab bi-monthly. Has published two collections of poems.
∼ In Clouds without Rain what has happened to the” love they sowed”?
Ali Al-Sab'tI (1934 -) Born in Kuwait and studied at its oldest school. Former editor-in-chief
of ‘Al-Yaqza’ magazine, he is a journalist and former board member of the Writers
Association. Writes regularly on poetry for Kuwaiti literary journals and has published two
collections of poetry.
∼ City of Human Beings: Describe this city in your own words.
Ali Ahmad Sa’id (1930 -) Born in Qassabin, Syria, and graduated from Syrian University in
Damascus. Has lived in Beirut since 1956, apart from a year at the Sorbonne in Paris, and
publishes his own magazine interested in all issues of Arab life. Early in his career as a poet,
he adopted the pen name ‘Adonis’ and has published several volumes of verse and prosepoems as well as a 3-volume anthology of classical Arabic poetry.
∼ I Told You: What did the poet tell?
Vittorio Sereni. Italian (1913-1983) Perhaps the finest Italian poet of his generation, Vittorio
Sereni served in the Italian Army during the Second World War and was captured when the
Allies invaded Sicily. Sereni was never a fascist, and it is not difficult to detect in his verse a
feeling of guilt that he was not able to join the anti-fascist partisans, particularly once
Mussolini had fallen and the Germans had occupied Northern Italy. His ‘Selected Poems’
appeared in English in 1990, translated by Marcus Ferryman and Peter Robinson (Anvil).
A Dream: Sereni was born in Luino, a small town on Lake Maggiore near the Swiss border.
The place names in the poem refer to this area.
Madrigal to Nefertiti: The wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) in the
14th century BC. The portrait head of Nefertiti in the Berlin museum is one of the greatest
works of art to survive from ancient Egypt.
From Holland: See note on Sujata Bhatt's poem, Oranges and Lemons.
∼ First Fear / Second Fear: Sereni's guilt about participating in war is obvious. Using these
poems as a starting point, have students write about something they feel guilty about.
Discuss whether it matters that their “guilty action” was triviality or otherwise.
∼ Madrigal to Nefertiti: Look at pictures of the sculptured head of Nefertiti and pictures of
the painting of the Mona Lisa. Why have these portraits captured the imagination of
millions of people?
Imagine / discuss what they may be thinking. Compare the two images: what are the
differences and similarities?
∼ In the introduction to the Sereni selection, it is suggested that one can detect a feeling of
guilt that he was not able to fight with the partisans against the fascist dictatorship. Do
you agree? If so, try to pinpoint the poems and parts of poems that convey this sense of
guilt. How would you describe the overall tone of his work?
Peter Skrzynecki (1945 - ) Born in 1945 Germany from Polish/Ukrainian descent,
Skrzynecki’s early poetry collections were concerned with the natural world, with the
countryside, its people, its fauna and flora. By the time of writing ‘Immigrant Chronicle’,
Peter Skrzynecki's theme has a new note. For the first time the poet writes about his
European background, his experiences as a migrant in Australia. He looks at the problems
associated with being an exile, with his parents' dispossession and the difficulties, such as
racism, bigotry and resettlement, encountered by them and other immigrants in trying to
assimilate to a new life in a new land. His poems continue to develop this understandably
tragic sense of life overlaid with shafts of sunshine.
∼ In Night Swim what are the “echoes of distances he crossed in thirty-three years”? Is the
poet happily married? How can you tell?
∼ Feliks Skrzynecki is the poet’s father. Describe him. Is he content? What is the
significance of the poet forgetting his first Polish word?
∼ Post card: How do they shelter Warsaw, Old Town? How does the old town have a hold
on the poet?
∼ Navajos: Explain “how suddenly their uneasiness resembled mine”?
Fadwa Tuqan (1917 - 2003) Born and educated in Nablus, Palestine, she was introduced to
verse-writing by her brother Ibrahim, a well-known poet. Her early poems were romantic
and written in traditional form, but later she wrote in free verse. The issue of resistance
dominated her work after her home town fell under Israeli occupation in June 1967. She
published several volumes of poetry.
∼ Existence: Can you call Existence a love poem? Why, why not?
Zrai Umar (1949 -) Born in the Algerian village of Tizi Rashed, studied Arabic at high school
and became a teacher and later a journalist in London. Belongs to the "angry generation".
Has published 3 collections of poems, many of which have been translated into Russian,
French, Serbo-Croatian, Vietnamese, Spanish and German.
∼ Love Songs: What is the misery of man?
Samuel Wagan Watson (1972 - ) Samuel Wagan Watson is a contemporary indigenous
Australian poet born in Brisbane. His family is Irish, German, Bundjalung and Birri Gubba. His
poetry ranges from observation of everyday experience to the effects of colonisation in a
vividly direct, almost tactile, language. In the late 1990s the Brisbane City Council set up a
project to raise awareness of the Boondall Wetlands. It brought together historians, poets,
photographers, environmentalists and designers to show the cultural history of the
Wetlands, both of the local indigenous history and the experiences of European settlers.
Samuel Watson was invited to this project.
∼ hotel bone: Explain “in the 1967 referendum/ the freedom to practice the voodoo of
semantics/ within the marrow of Hotel Bone”.
∼ Carefree: Why did the kids play Russian roulette?
Xuan Mien. (1922 - 1990) From 1945 onwards he was in the Vietnamese army, fighting first
against the French and then against the South Vietnamese, rising to the rank of colonel.
Later he was a reporter and a leading figure in the Vietnam Writers' Association.
∼ Missing the Eastern Region: What did the soldier miss about the Eastern region?
Xuan Quynh (1942 - 1988) Most modern Vietnamese poetry draws its subject matter from
the turbulent and tragic war years: the fight to cast off the colonial power, France, in the
post-World War II years, the struggle between North and South Vietnam and the conflict
with the USA. In contrast, much of Xuan Quynh's writing turns aside from the struggle and
deals with personal themes. Trained as a dancer, she published several books of verse. She
and her husband, another Vietnamese poet, were killed in a car crash in 1988.
∼ What, if anything, do the three poems of Xuan Quynh have in common?